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Corwin Argus
Corwin Orwell Devon-Argus *Born: 2E.540 *Died: 2E.568 Personality C.O.D.A. is very difficult to anger. He was raised to supress his emotions in order to properly control his magic, which was difficult before the Maelstrom appeared. He is also very gifted and is capable of learning by heart the contents of entire books within days. He has a very methodical approach to things and plans long-term. He tends to get lost in his work if he finds something that interests him. As he has studied a lot of different things in his life, he can generally talk on any subject and is a source of information to those who call him a friend. He calls Mister Bartholomew, Charlotte Thay and Elfium Barkskin his best friends, even though they only see each other a few times a century. He treats Katie Everwind as a friend, but also as though he were her caretaker and is often trying to fix things that she breaks. History Early Life Corwin was born to Flarious Devon II, a Paladin of the Divine Order, and Misha Argus, a High Priestess of the Grand Lord Chassuille. He was born in the Sontari Empire in the city of Maraki and had a rare genetic disorder called the Degeneration Disease. Fortunately, even at an early age, Corwin has a great talent for Runic magic and managed to devise the Halt Disease Rune before his 10th birthday. From that point on he no longer felt the negative effects of the disease he was born with, but he was never very healthy in life. The Sontari Empire granted him very early access to the Mages' Guild and before his 12th birthday he had managed to learn and control 3rd level magic. It was there that he learned to control his emotions and was often thought to be strange since he did it so well. Teenage Years Corwin's main focus was to find a cure to his illness. The disease was resistant to normal magic, but he was driven to find a cure. At the age of 15 he cast his first 5th level spell and by 18 he was casting 7th level magic. His talent earned him fame all over the country, especially because he was the son of a Paladin General and High Priestess. When he was 16, he discovered the Elements of magic and wrote a book about them which quickly became standard studying material in Mages' Guilds throughout the Mavris Continent. The book is known as The Tome of Basics and contains Runes, Rituals and other studies on the Elements. Early Adulthood By the age of 21, Corwin had become a Mage of the 9th Circle and one of the leaders of the then-modern magic. He did not directly lead the Mages' Guild of Maraki, but regularly had heavy input in meetings of its most powerful mages. In secret, he had begun working on magic that was to do with controlling the Soul, something which was forbidden by all religions and Gods of the time. After exhausting what he believed to be all routes to do with altering his physical form, he hoped to cure his illness by altering his own Soul. It was at this stage that he first stumbled onto the Ethereal Realm and Planar travel, but felt that without others helping him he could not access them. He had to keep this work secret, so what he called "The Realm of Souls" was out of bounds at this point in time. Rebellion and Research In 2E.563, when Corwin was 23, the King of Sontar declared that all magic users must Register in order to continue their practice. Many mages felt this was fair as they were indeed more powerful than many and they needed limits or else they would go mad with power. Corwin disagreed. He believed that no mortal should have the right to stop others from casting a force that was granted by the Gods. When his father came to force him to register, Corwin decided he would rather leave the country. If he Registered he would be forced to fully declare all his experiments and expenses, which he could not afford to do because of his Soul experiments. Corwin went on the run, taking his research with him. He fought his way out of town, causing the Great Fire of Maraki with a stray bolt of lightning in the process. On his way out he ran into a man in a fine suit who decided to protect him from the oncoming Paladins of the Divine Order. This is where Corwin first found out that Immortality was possible and knew he had a new goal in life. The man came with him on his travels to the Coral Kingdom and was known simply as Mister Bartholomew. He would be a good friend to Corwin for the rest of his life and the willing subject of many experiments. As an Immortal, Mister Bartholomew gave much hope to young Corwin and helped him greatly in his experiments. On the road to Cora, they had to secure a boat as Cora was on an entirely different continent. They came across a slaver ship that was selling Elves from the forests of Kini. Corwin disagreed with many practices of Maraki and this was one of them. Together, Corwin and Mister Bartholomew freed the Elves from the ship and took the boat. The leader was called Elfium Barkskin, translated from his native language. He wished to also travel to Cora in order to get help for the slaves. Upon reaching Cora, a few weeks after leaving his home, he instantly surrendered himself to the guards, stating who he was and his goal of bringing down the Sontari Empire. He also requested an audience with the King. He chose to do things this way to promote peace rather than blasting his way through the city, as he would have easily been able to do. Mister Bartholomew was impressed at Corwin's fluency in the Coran language, but Corwin explained that he had studied many languages up until now as a hobby. The King, Melchiah Tora, listened to his story about how corrupt the King of Sontar had become and how he was scared of an uprising by the mages even though they had not planned anything. Corwin also took a risk and told the King of his research into Souls. The King said that it was not illegal in Cora, but not to let the churches hear him talk about it. Corwin set up a laboratory within the city and was soon famous as a mage who believed in the freedom to do magic without fear that the Kingdom or anyone else will halt your research out of fear. Openly he continued his research into the Elements, but secretly he worked with Soul magic and curing his disease. At the age of 24, Corwin stumbled upon something that would lead to the creation of the Undead decades later, but at the time he thought he could use it for Immortality. A side of the Soul that sustained it: what Corwin called the Shade. It fueled the Soul and sustained it, so Corwin needed to find a way to bring it forward and fuel the body too. It was at this point some of his research was stolen, but fortunately it was only the Elements work and not the Soul work. He recruited Elfium to track down the thief and that is how he met Charlotte Thay, a woman who was in her late teens but was already a skilled thief. She had been planning on selling the research on, but was caught before she could make the deal. He made a deal with her. He would not turn her over to the authorities if she participated in an experiment. She knew that possible powers was better than being locked away for a long time so she agreed. Using his small knowledge of Planar travel, Corwin pulled a Soul through the Planes and forced it inside Charlotte where it merged. She was in control, but she was a slightly different person after that day. This experiment was the first of many in trapping Souls within bodies and he did not realise at the time that he had used a Succubus and not a regular Soul. In order to continue his Soul work, Corwin would need many different things from all over the world. He recruited Charlotte, Elfium and Mister Bartholomew and set off travelling. Adventuring Approaching his 25th birthday, he set off around the world. They visted places all over the Semblan Continent, meeting many new people and seeing different cultures. In secret, however, he captured the Souls of the recently dead and stored them in small black gems. These would be useful to him later for experiments. He also collected samples of flesh from many different creatures and tried to see how different they were from humans. He spent three years travelling and grew close to those he travelled with. Unfortunately, it was during this time that Elfium started experiencing the early signs of the Rusting. He was getting old. Corwin promised to find a way to prevent it. Sacrifice It was on one fateful day that the world changed. Autumn 5.1, in the year 568 of the Second Era. Corwin and his team were visiting the Fields of Terra, where the Gods had once appeared to the world. Corwin was testing Souls when Elfium spotted something on the horizon. It was the army of the Order of Divinity, led by Corwin's own father. They set up quickly and prepared to fight. They were four of the most powerful people on the planet, so they knew what they were doing. If the army was all the way here in Sen, they had to be up to no good. The army stopped when they noticed the four. They sent a scout to talk to them, who immediately turned back when he saw Corwin, who was a famous face in the Empire, not only as a talented Mage but also as a traitor. After this, Corwin's father approached them. They argued over philosophy and the Empire until Bellan, Corwin's younger brother, stepped in. Corwin's mother arrived and was apparently being forced to follow the army and take care of the healing needs of the soldiers along with many other priests. She tried to calm down Corwin's father, who was in a rage, but ended up on the end of his sword. This is the first time Corwin snapped and lost control. Bellan attacked Flarious, but was quickly grabbed and taken away from the fight by Mister Bartholomew. Corwin gathered all the magic he could into himself and then tried to unleashe it at his father. Then he had a moment of realisation. Removing the Soul and leaving the Shade would allow him to live forever. He realised this as he felt his own Soul tear as he attacked. He was using magic he didn't even know he had. Soul magic. The attack not only tore his Soul, it also ripped his skin from his bones in his left arm. He was dying from the attack. His father died with some final words that he didn't hear and didn't want to know. He approached his mother and knelt beside her. He then gathered the last of his magic to try and bring her back to life, drawing a magic circle that only a genius like him could devise within seconds. He invoked the name of Terra and Chassuille and something happened that he could never explain. A tree sprung from the ground and took his mother inside it. She merged with and become a force of nature. Around her the Great Maelstrom formed and she became the source of magic for the entire world. She healed his wounds, but then told him that she knew what the future held for him and that he could never see her again. With that, Corwin and Bellan, Mister Bartholomew, Charlotte and Elfium left via a tunnel in the Maelstrom and it closed behind them. Then Corwin cried. C.O.D.A. The next day was declared the 3rd Era by many kingdoms across the world and it was then accepted by the people. Magic was now very easy to use thanks to the sudden appearance of the Great Maelstrom. Corwin marked this day by becoming the first Undead. He gathered his supplies and told Bellan to order the army to return to Maraki. Bellan was now in command of the army and knew that he had to leave his brother. They had a mutual understanding that the events of last night would not be revealed to the world. Corwin then created the oddest magic circle any of the others had ever seen. At the centre he placed a bowl of his own blood, cut from his forearm after he was finished. The Maelstrom raged in the background and Corwin announced that he would henceforce be known only by his initals. C.O.D.A.. He stood at the centre and focused his mind. He called the magics within and around his and sent it through his Soul, tearing at his body in the process. Skin and muscle and organs and blood spun and disintegrated around him. His Shade became the primary part of his Soul and the rest faded somewhat. He did not cut out his Soul as intended, but when he realised what happened, he knew he didn't need to. He was now alive, but with a cleansed Soul and an Immortal body, even if he was a skeleton. His clothes no longer fitted him, so he threw on a spare robe he had with him, even though he had nothing to hide. C.O.D.A. was now the first Lich and the first Undead in Terran history. Unfortunately for C.O.D.A., the ritual was incomplete. He did not know it but the part of his Soul that faded needed somewhere to go. The universe provided from the blood that was strewn around. It formed in front of his eyes into a shape that resembled him. Without a thought he blasted it into the Maelstrom after quickly marking his skull with the Elemental Ray Rune. He would later name this creature Zandara el Argus, Doppleganger of Argus in Draconic. He would also later discover how to perform the complete Lich Ritual and that Zandara was his Phylactery. Zandara would later become Gigantos el Argus after absorbing so much magic from the Maelstrom that it became the size of a mountain. Zel Dara el Argus A possible future.